Excerpt: Back in 2005, United Airlines ... terminated its employee pension plans, creating the single largest corporate pension default in U.S. history.... It seems, though, that the unions, shareholders, creditors, government -- and, most importantly, the retirees -- got hoodwinked. United had an asset on its books that could have paid for the entire cost of the pension obligations -- and then some -- but according to the financial statements at the time, it was a negative asset, a cost.  MORE >>